Mehdi Soleimanieh, a sociologist, believes that after the first Cultural Revolution in Iran, it gained more intensity during the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad era (the former regime’s president from 2005 to 2013), moving towards the “purification” of universities, and we have entered the “university winter.” (The Cultural Revolution in Iran refers to a series of events related to the culture of Iran, higher education in Iran, and education in the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially during the years 1980 to 1983. It is said to have taken place with the aim of purging professors and students who were considered by the Iranian regime to be influenced by the West during the specified years.)
According to the regime’s Khabar Online news website, Soleimanieh, speaking at the National Conference on Social and Cultural Research in Iranian Society, stated, “Those currently active within the university and those who have been expelled and are outside are not against each other but are both against the expelling institution.”
According to this sociologist, the purification process in universities has three mechanisms, including strict control over admissions, control of faculty members through the promotion system and changing their status, and ultimately the expulsion of opposing professors.
The sociologist’s emphasis on the expulsion of professors as one of the three mechanisms of purification is significant as Iranian media continue to report on the ongoing series of professors’ expulsions.
In this regard, the media reported that more than 25 professors were expelled only from the University of Tehran in two years, most of whom are graduates or practitioners of humanities.
Based on reports, during the mid-academic year, these expulsions are still ongoing.
According to the same source, during the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi, the University of Tehran and Tehran University of Medical Sciences each had 26 expulsions, Alameh University had five, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad had six, Azad University had 14, Babol University of Medical Sciences had two, Iran University of Medical Sciences had three, and Hakim Sabzevari, Tarbiat Modares, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran University, Shiraz University, Gilan University, and Sharif Industrial University each had one expulsion.
The expulsion of professors has led to reactions from students and criticism from experts, but within the government, these expulsions have been normalized and justified.
The Jam-e Jam newspaper, a media outlet of the state broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), also considered the university in May 2023 as a place for producing opposition and emphasized the continuation of purifications.
On the same day, the president of the University of Tehran claimed that cutting ties with professors was due to “ethical problems” and not political issues.
The wave of professor expulsions intensified after nationwide protests in 2022 in response to the killing of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the “Morality Police,” and the role played by students and the support of professors.
On September 10, 2023, members of seven scientific societies in the country warned in a statement about “widespread expulsion of professors and security confrontations with students,” stating that the gradual “disintegration” and the currently accelerating inefficiency of the educational system are exacerbating the governance system’s failures.
